February 9, 1919

? Is this necessary?
To Sverdlov: Would it not be
better to order that
they organize it
on the spot?

...Ovruch presents itself as a devastated city; there are no residents. During the occupation by Petlyurist authorities, many civilians were shot, property was plundered. Such is the picture unfolding along the entire line of Ovruch and Korostyń. The white-guards continue their underground work, conducting Black Hundred anti-Semitic nationalist agitation... It is necessary urgently to send a supreme investigative commission to clarify everything that has happened. In the Ovruch and Korostyń sector it is necessary to organize aid to citizens whose families are starving...